Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer mortality with a death rate nearly equal to the incidence of this disease. Detection of cancer specific, abnormally DNA methylated gene promoter sequences has emerged as one of the leading tumor biomarker detection strategies. Recently, there have been successful reports of DNA methylation screening using various body fluids, such as stool for detection of colorectal cancer, sputum for lung cancer, and urine for prostate cancer.
However, in pancreatic cancer no screening tool is currently available for early detection. This is particularly relevant as pancreatic cancer is often found once it is already metastatic or locally advanced and the diagnosis is often delayed because patients present with nonspecific gastrointestinal symptoms. The development of a screening modality for pancreatic cancer which identifies early stage cancers amenable to surgical curative resection would then have a potential impact in reducing mortality from this currently lethal disease.